The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested five men on Thursday after seizing 3.1 kg of gold and Rs 5.84 crore in foreign currency from a convoy that had travelled from Bangladesh via Kolkata to Hyderabad.
The Hyderabad Zonal Unit and Vijayawada Regional Unit, acting on precise intelligence about a smuggling ring, coordinated the raid that began at the outskirts of Vijayawada.
A Scorpio vehicle was intercepted, and officers discovered a specially made cavity housing the currency—USD 60,000 and €21,500—while the two occupants admitted delivering the gold on the outskirts of Vijayawada.
Further intelligence led investigators to a public bus en route to Hyderabad, where a toll plaza stop uncovered three men carrying 3,147.1 g of gold bars concealed in waist‑pouches.
All five suspects were produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, remanded to judicial custody, and the agency is probing for the rest of the international smuggling network.